Father's House Blog

At the end of every year I spend time praying about the season ahead. This year has been no exception, even though it’s the first time in well over two decades that I’ve done this while not being in church leadership. Even though I am no longer overseeing a congregation I have still felt it right to try and see what the Father is doing in 2010-11 (John 5.19).

On Christmas Eve morning I woke up with a striking picture. I saw a large map of the world and what looked like tiny light bulbs wedged into many parts of it. There were many of these bulbs and they were driven like golf tees into cities and towns all over the world. I then saw what looked like liquid transparent gold filling these bulbs. The bulbs then formed into orbs of golden, glowing light. And as I looked at them it seemed like an invisible heavy weight began to press down on each one, all over the map. And as these orbs were pressed down there came a moment in each one when the pressure told and they compressed onto the map. Each one became like a pressed, golden sun flower. Whole villages, towns, cities were covered by these crushed flower heads. And as I looked I saw golden seeds from these flowers being blown by the wind and forming new flower heads in other places.

As I asked the Father what all this meant I was reminded that gold is the colour that symbolizes God’s glory. In the Temple in Jerusalem, all the furniture in the Holy Place and the innermost sanctuary was made of gold because the Holy of Holies was thought to be the place where the glory of God dwelt. As I thought about this my mind started to reflect on the absolute necessity of the presence of the glory of God. I began to feel a hunger to see the presence of God’s glory in a way that I haven’t for some time. I began to feel jealous for the glory of his presence, and the presence of his glory.

If you ask me what I sense coming in this next season, the answer would be a lot of things. People are going to be relocated in preparation for these outbreaks of glory. People are going to be taken to new levels of expectancy as well. But the main thing I sense is that we’re entering a season in which there will be a marked increase in the presence of the glory of God all over the earth. This is going to be a season in which we will see ‘greater glory’. We will get closer to being any able to say that the whole earth is filled with the glory of God.

The reason for this is because this ‘greater glory’ will not just be in one location, as has happened (in Azusa Street, Toronto, and now in Kansas City etc). It will be in many different locations. Wherever this occurs Christians will be energised to break out into their villages, towns and cities with a tremendous new anointing for preaching the Gospel with demonstrations of power (i.e. signs, wonders and miracles). The power of God’s glory will launch God’s people into apostolic mode.

Let me elaborate: rather than being primarily places of pilgrimage for weary Christians, these places where the gold of God’s glory shines will be places of mission for fired up saints! They will not be defined by their seating capacity. They will be defined by their sending capacity. And these places are not going to be famous among the saved. They are going to be famous among the lost. Lost people are going to be impacted by the outward flow of God’s people from these apostolic centres. Whether these centres are small or large numerically, they are going to have a radical impact on their local communities and regions.

So I have a sense that 2010-11 is going to be a season of acceleration, expansion and multiplication. The engine for all of this will be the presence of the glory of God. One of the keynote verses for me is 2 Corinthians 3.8: ‘Shouldn’t we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving life?’ That’s the New Living Translation. The Living Bible puts it even better, ‘Shall we not expect far greater glory in these days when the Holy Spirit is giving life?’ Or as another older translation puts it, ‘will not the ministry of the Holy Spirit be even more glorious?’

This is the season of the ‘even more’. It is the time of seeing greater things (John 1.51) and doing greater things (John 14.12). It is the time of the greater glory – a time when we will have a greater revelation of ‘the Father’s glory’ (Romans 6.4).

The springboard for this will be a new emphasis on PURITY. I have written and spoken about this many times in the last year (see particularly my blog on ‘It’s Time for the Second Seal’), but let me just reiterate here that I believe that this is a time in which the Father is going to be emphasizing purity in places where he has been emphasizing intimacy. Holiness – a no compromise attitude of deep consecration – is going to be a vital feature of this season.

This was further confirmed by something else I saw in the Christmas Eve picture. In my vision the key locations on the global map were all joined by golden roads. When I asked the Holy Spirit what this was I sensed in my spirit that it’s the Highway of Holiness mentioned in Isaiah 35. 8-10:

And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

This season is accordingly going to be a time of greater purity. The Father’s glory will come in places characterized by the three H’s – holiness, humility and hunger. Where these are found, the presence of the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and it will be confirmed in signs and wonders.

There is so much more to the word which I will say when I deliver the message verbally in January. This message will be available on our web site. But I want to just add a couple more things to this greatly abbreviated version.

The first is that the word has been confirmed by at least two independent witnesses. One of my spiritual sons - Pastor Troy Goode in Rhode Island, Providence – has had the phrase ‘greater glory’ for 2010 and carries a very similar burden. In addition, Helen Clark – who heads up our intercession at Fathers House Trust – sent me an email saying that she felt that 2010 was going to be the year of increase.

Secondly, and even more remarkably, just after Christmas (and after receiving this word) I was led by the Holy Spirit to a prophecy by William Seymour, who oversaw the Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles in 1906-1910 – a revival that of course launched the Pentecostal movement, the fastest growing expression of Christianity today. This prophecy is referred to at the end of a book by Tommy Welchel called They Told Me Their Stories, a compilation of testimonies from Azusa Street.

Sometime in 1909-1910 (the exact date is uncertain), William Seymour prophesied that in 100 years time there would be another great visitation of God. This would be in many different locations worldwide, not just one, and it would involve people experiencing the Shekinah glory of God as the saints in Azusa Street had at the turn of the 20th century. Miracles and especially remarkable healing would be a common feature of this visitation.
When I read this my spirit leapt. It confirmed what I sense for this season – that w are going to be seeing more and more of the Father’s glory in the days ahead. The glory of the Father is going to be made manifest in many different places around the world. This glory will spill out into communities, neighbourhoods, streets and workplaces and will have a very profound effect on the lost. It will be based on holiness (not just intimacy) and it will be attended by an increase in miracles. Purity and power will be the key emphases.

2010 is a time of greater glory in which the kingdom, the power and the glory will fill ministries and churches worldwide. God is going to do BIG things in small places. He will get ALL the glory. And the evidence will be authentic miracles pouring out of holy and noble vessels. As we read in Isaiah 35, as the highway of holiness is built, Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.  Then will the lame leap like a deer and the mute tongue shout for joy.

One final thing: we should not restrict these outbreaks of greater glory to churches alone. On Christmas Day my mind was wondering during the morning service I attended. I started to think about the shepherds on the hills in Israel at the time of the birth of Jesus. They were doing their ordinary, every day, menial and, to be honest, frowned upon job. Yet even there, on the hills, ‘An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them’ (Luke 2.9). The angel showed up, and so did the glory, in the shepherd’s workplace. It wasn’t in a religious building but outside on the hills. This was a workplace visitation that drew peoples’ attention to Jesus.

Could it be that the Father’s greater glory is going to be seen not just in local churches where there is a hunger for more of the Lord, but also in non-churchy places too – in workplaces, for example, like supermarkets, shops, streets, prisons, hospitals and schools? Could it be that Jesus is going to be exalted not just in churches and their communities but in places that are ‘outside the box’?

‘In places where you least expect me, I will reveal my glory’.

I leave that for you to test, a long with everything else I have written here. But I really do carry a conviction that it is time for the Father’s greater glory, and I invite you with me to pray Moses’ prayer, ‘Show me your glory’ (Exodus 33.18).

Mark Stibbe

December 31st 2009

For more on Azusa Street and the 100 year prophecy, see Sid Roth’s interview of Tommy Welchel

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3213875414222253051#docid=-5814554643242342694